Devices containing pyrotechnical material for use in a vehicle occupant restraint system are used for instance as gas generators or ignition means in gas bag modules and belt tensioner systems. The ignition means generally comprise a housing, a heat-generating element accommodated therein, such as a heating wire, and pyrotechnical material for generating gas and/or hot particles. The heat-generating element can receive an electric impulse via two wire pins, whereby it is heated abruptly and ignites the pyrotechnical material. A membrane sealing the housing is usually burst thereby, and the ignition of the gas-generating charge of an air bag gas generator or a tensioning means is activated.
Since the requirements on the reliability during activation of such ignition means are very high, the production thereof generally involves a rather high effort. Care should be taken in particular that the electric connection between the heat-generating element and the wire pins is formed reliably and that the heat-generating element lies in the housing of the ignition means in a mechanically stable way.
With the device containing pyrotechnical material, which comprises a housing made of glass surrounding the pyrotechnical material, as it is described in German Utility Model DE 298 07 096, a gas- and liquid-tight ignition means was provided.